The Atmosphere

Thanks to a mounting interest in climate change and severe weather phenomena, meteorology courses are increasingly popular among today's students - particularly in general education versions of the course, where rapid advances in visualization tools and technologies like GIS have greatly expanded the teacher's toolkit. The Atmosphere: An Introduction to Meteorology remains the standard introduction in its field, reinforcing basic concepts with everyday, easy-to-grasp examples. This revision retains the hallmarks professors have come to expect from Tarbuck and Lutgens: a friendly, largely non-technical narrative, timely coverage of recent atmospheric events, and carefully crafted artwork by leading science illustrator Dennis Tasa. The Twelfth Edition maintains a student-friendly approach while evolving to address various course challenges and trends. Current digital visualization and assessment tools are now available on MyMeteorologyLab, a new resource that both encourages student self-study and enables instructors to manage their courses online, with customizable assessments for students. Each chapter in this revision is organized by a new active learning path to help guide and engage non-science majors. A greater focus on popular and increasingly important Severe & Hazardous Weather applications, new critical visual analysis Eye on the Atmosphere features, as well as new discussions of the real-world career opportunities of meteorology with Professional Profile essays, make the science both relevant and exciting.1 Introduction to the Atmosphere 2 Heating Earth's Surface and Atmosphere 3 Temperature 4 Moisture and Atmospheric Stability 5 Forms of Condensation and Precipitation 6 Air Pressure and Winds 7 Circulation of the Atmosphere 8 Air Masses 9 Weather Patterns 10 Thunderstorms and Tornadoes 11 Hurricanes 12 Weather Analysis and Forecasting 13 Air Pollution 14 The Changing Climate 15 World Climates 16 Optical Phenomena of the Atmosphere Appendix A Metric Units Appendix B Explanation and Decoding of the Daily Weather Map Appendix C Relative Humidity and Dew- Point Tables Appendix D Laws Relating to Gases Appendix E Newton's Laws in Motion Appendix F Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale Appendix G Climate Data Glossary Index